Method of operating locomotives having internal combustion engines



L. SAIVES April 11, 1933.

I METHOD OF OPERATING LOCOMOTIVES HAVING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed March 12. 1952 Patented I A 11, 1933 1,903,635

UNITED STATES, PATENT"- OFFICE LEON SAIVES, BILIANOOUBT, FRANCE, ASSIGNOB TO LOUIS RENAULT, 0F

. BELANGOUBT, FRANCE METHOD OF OPERATING LOCONOTIVES HAVING INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Application filed larch 12, 1882, Serial No. 588,524, and in France April 17, 1931.

The invention relates to locomotives or the clutch, 3 is the change-speed gearbox of tractors driven by internal combustion enthe sliding .gear type for four speeds, 4 is gines and deals more. particularly with an the transmission shaft which transmits the. operating or controlling arrangement for ap-- movement to the axles by suitable mechanical paratus such 'as the clutch coupling and means of known form.

change-speed gear. 7 An apparatus referred to as a synchronizer In high power locomotives driven by m- 1s shown at 5, the purpose of which is to ternal combustion engines of the Diesel type drive the engine so that it always rotates at it is necessary to combine the engine with the the same speed as the control shaft 6, even auxiliary apparatus in order to arrange for when this latter shaft is uncoupled and is no starting and varying the-speed. The most longer driven by the engine. commonly adopted method is to combine the The synchronizer is shown in section in engine with an electrical apparatus. In this F 1g.'3. t comprises a box 7 supporting two case the enginedrives-a generator, the curshafts 8 and 9; the shaft 8 is driven by the 15 rent from which is supplied to the motors engine through the intermediary of chain I driving the axles. wheels 10 and 11 (Fig. 1) and the shaft 9 is This system is very complicated and the driven by the control shaft by means of two overall efficiency is very much reduced since chain wheels 12 and 13, one of the wheels the power transmitted to the wheel rims is being driven by friction (the wheel 12 for 20 equal to the power of the motor multiplied example), the ratio of the wheels 10/11 being 7 by the generator efliciency and by the efiiequal to the ratio of the Wheels 12/13.

ciency of the motors. The end of the shaft 8 has a screw thread The ideal arrangement would be, of course, and the end of the shaft 9 is provided with v to transmit the engine power by means of grooves. 1

5 members ofa purely mechanical nature as is An intermediate member 14 is screwed to actually done in the case of motor cars, the shaft 8 by its left-hand end, whilst its butin view of the masses of the moving memright-hand end is driven by the shaft 9. The bers, it isnot possible to carry out speed exterior of the member 14 is provided with changes in the same manner as that adopted a toothed'rack section and a sector 15 pivoted for a motor vehicle owing to the shocks and around the axis 16 engages with these teeth; 30 stresses set up in the transmission gear ifat the other end 17 drives the fuel feed pumps the moment of changingspeed, the members by means of the small connecting rod 18, as which have to engage with one another do shown diagrammatically at 19'(Fig.1). not run at exactly the same speed. Furthermore, a lever 20 enables the pump The arrangement described herewith has output to be regulated by hand also. for its object to provide in locomotives driven In view of the foregoing it will be noted by internal combustion engines an entirely that when the engine is uncoupled, if the. mechanical system of control which comes incontrol shaft 6 and the engine are rotating to operation when the members which have at the same speed, the shafts 8 and 9 will to engage with one another have exactly the likewise rotate at the same speed and the same speed, in such a manner thatno shocks member rotating with the shafts will not are imparted to the transmission gear. change its position in the box. I In the accompanying drawing: f If one of the shafts, the shaft 9 for exam- Fig. 1 shows the arrangement diagrample, rotates at a lower speed than the shaft 5 matically, I 8, the member 14 will be unscrewed and will Fig. 2 is a plan view of the preparatory apadvance to the right, moving the sector 15 -mu which acts upon the engine fuel supply to Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the syndecrease the output and slow up the engine chronizer. until the two speeds of the shafts 8 and 9 Referring to Fig. 1, 1 is the engine, 2 is are equal; at this moment the engine will rotate at the same speed as the control shaft:

If on the other hand the shaft 9 rotates at a higher speed than the engine the member 14 will be screwed along the shaft 8 and the sector 15 will act in a direction opposlte to that previously described, increasing the fuel supply until the two shafts rotate at the same speed.

In consequence of the synchromzmg apparatus therefore, the engine when uncoupled will always rotate at the same speed as ders 23, 24, 25, 26 and maintained inthe dead position by buffer springs in the manner shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1.

Each of these cylinders is connected by a pipe 27 to a distributor 28. Thus there are four similar distributors which are disposed concentrically around the axis w-y of the control lever 29. Each distributor consists of an outer cylinder 28 in which a piston 30 moves, the rod of which is actuated by-a finger 31 on the control lever 29,, a buffer spring placed at thelower part of the cylinder maintaining the piston in constant contact with the finger 31. Q

Three pipes enter the cylinder ferent levels: 7

1. A pipe 32 at the top, which comes from a compressed 'air reservoir 33;

2. 'A pipe 34 which feeds a cylinder 35 referred to further on.

3. A' pipe 27 which feeds the cylinder 24.

The piston 30 which is shown in its lower position places the compressed air reservoir 33 in communication with the cylinders 24 and 35. This piston is provided at its periphery with ducts which, when the piston is at the upper part of the cylinder, place the pipes 32 and 34 in communication with the lower part of the cylinder'28 which is incommunication with the atmosphere.

The control lever 29 is articulated at 36 on a member 37 which can'pivot around the axis 231/. The end 38 of this lever actuates a rod 39 connected to-a lever 40 which controls the two valves 41 and 42 for the box 43, these valves being urged by springs to press 'againstthe lever 40. The lower left-hand portion of this box communicates by means of the pipe 44 with the compressed air reservoir 33; the lower right-hand part communicates with the atmosphere and the upper part communicates through the pipe 45 with a cylinder 46, the piston 47 of which controls at three dif-' the box is broughtto rest by the brake shoe the declutching through the medium of a lever 48, this piston being urged to the right by a butter spring.

Fig. 1 shows the valve41 closed and the valve 42 open; the cylinder 46 is therefore in communication with the atmosphere and as no force is acting upon the lever 48, the shaft 6 is clutched to the engine.

The general arrangement is completed by .an apparatus referred to as the preparatory apparatus, the purpose of which is to impart the desired speed to the control shaft 6, in order to obtain a change of speed without any shock.

For a four-speed gear box, such as is shown diagrammaticallyin the drawing, the preparatory apparatus comprises four small cylindrical'boxes 49, 50, 51 and 52 arranged around an axis w.-y', the outside of these boxes being rounded to adapt them to the action of a brake 53 capable of bringing them to rest. Each of these small boxes supports at its centre two opposed shafts 54 and 55 which are driven outside the box by gear wheels 56 and 57 which receive their motion from the shaft 6 through the chain wheels 12 and 13, and from the transmission shaft 4 through the chain wheel 58 and 59 respectively, so that the shaft 54 rotates at the speed of the shaft 6 and the shaft 55 rotates at the speed of the shaft 4, or, the shafts 54 and 55 rotate at speeds proportional to the speeds of the shafts 6 and 4.

Within the boxes the shafts 54 and 55 carry planet gears 60 and 61 engaging with the pinions 62 and 63. The diameters of these wheels and pinions are so selected that when 53 mounted on the piston ofthe cylinder 35, the speed ratio of the shafts 54 and 55 is equal to the speed ratio of the shafts 6 and 4 when the sliding gear 64 engages with the intermediate gear 65 in the change-speed gear box 3; for each speed of the vehicle a corresponding box is provided in the preparatory' apparatus similar to that described above.

To complete the description, an air compressor 66 driven by the engine maintains a constant air pressure in the reservoir 33.

In the arrangement thus described the method of operation, in passing from one speed to another, is as follows:

The driver raises the control handle 29. The 'first result of this movement is to operate the valves 41 and 42 which causes the piston 47 to move to the left and thus effects the uncoupling of the engine.

It should be noted that, having been declutched, the engine and shaft 6 rotate at the same speed in consequence of the action of the synchronizer 5 which regulates the engine speed in accordance with that of the .shaft 6.

29 is to allow the piston 30 to rise again in the cylinder 28 and to place the cylinder 24 in communication with the atmosphere which brings the sliding gear 21 back to the dead point, and finally when the control lever has been moved to the highest position, the cylinder 35 is placed in communication with the atmosphere and the piston 53 ceases to exercise its braking action on the rotating box of the preparatory apparatus; at this moment everything is free, the engine is uncoupled, all the sliding gears in the gear box are at the dead point and all the rotating boxes for the preparatory apparatus are running idle.

The driver turns the lever 29, and brings it down on the new speed selected which and drives the compressed air into the pipe- 34, thereby putting the cylinder 35 under pressure and arresting the box of the preparatory apparatus corresponding to the speed selected with the result that the two gears 64 and 65 rotate as if they had engaged.

On the second descent of the piston 30 the compressed air is driven into the'pipe 27, the cylinder 24 is placed under pressure and the piston in the cylinder 24 moves the sliding gear 21 to cause the sliding pinion 64 to engage with the intermediate pinion 65, which can be effected without shock as the two gears have the same linear speed.

On continuing to press the button of the lever 29, the rod 39 rises, the valve 42 leaves its seat and the valve 41 closes. As the cylinder 46 is no longer under pressure, coupling takes place without any shock since the engine always rotates at the same speed as the shaft 6.

In this Way, therefore, by a very simple manipulation passage from one speed to another is obtained without any shock.

It is to be understood that the diflerent members referred to are described merely by way of example and they may be constructed in other ways provided that the result attained is the same.

For example, the synchronizer may comprise a differential movement in which the rotating part carrying the pinions becomes stationary when the speeds of the two shafts carrying the planet wheels are equal and of opposite direction; it might also consist of two groups of centrifugal members'driven by the shafts 8 and 9, and which assume a position of equilibrium when the speeds of these shafts are equal, or further, of a combination of any other known means which determine the position of equilibrium when the movement of the two shafts is equal.

Similarly, a compressor has been mentioned as the member for supplying the energy for controlling the clutch, the preparatory apparatus and the speed gear box. Whilst retaining the same principle, a vacuum pump may be employed in place of the compressor, the pistons being actuated by the effect of vacuum in place of compressed a1r.

Finally, the operation may also be carried out by electricity, either by electro-magnets, or by small motors which drive the different members to be controlled.

Where the engine is of the explosion type, the synchronizer will control the carburettor valve which is connected on the other hand to the accelerator pedal.

I claim: 1

1. Control mechanisms for locomotives or tractors, comprising a motor and its shaft, a clutch, a second shaft driven by said motor shaft through said clutch, a transmission shaft, a change-speed box carrying movable means for connecting said driven shaft and said transmission shaft with a motion reducin said change-speed box, a control lever adapted for movement to as many operative positions as the change speed box has speeds, means for simultaneously transmitting the control of said lever, for each of its positions with respect to said clutch, to said movable gears of the change-speed box, and to said means for connecting together said driven shaft and said transmission shaft, with a suitable motion reduction.

2. A controlling arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which said means acting upon the fuel supply comprise a shaft connected to said motor shaft and a shaft connected to the driven shaft, a screw engaged on one of said last two shafts, driven by the other and provided on its exterior surface with grooves engaging a toothed sector connected to the fuel supply.

3. A controlling arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which said means for connecting together said driven shaft and said transmission shaft with a motion reduction corresponding to the gear to be engaged in the change-speed box comprise a number of boxes equal to the number of speeds in said changespeed box, each of said boxes containing planet gears in engagement with two sun gears connected respectively to said driven shaft and to said transmission shaft and means for braking the one of said boxes corresponding to the gear to be engaged in the change-speed box.

4. A controlling arrangement for locomotives or tractors, comprising a motor with its shaft, a clutch, a shaft driven by said motor 4- 1,oos,oau

shaft by the intermediary of said clutch, a transmission shaft, a change-speed box transmitting motion from said driven shaft to'v said transmission shaft, means acting upon the fuel supply of said motor for equalizing at each instant the speeds of said motor shaft and of said driven shaft, a number of boxes equal to the number of speeds on said changespeed box, each of said boxes containing planet gears in engagement with two sun gears connected respectively to said driven shaft and to said transmission shaft, a pneumatic brake on each of said boxes controlled by a piston movable in a cylinder for each brake, said piston controlling together the change-speed box for engaging the speed corresponding to the brake which is operated, a controller device for acting on one of said pistons and means for disengaging automatically said clutch when the controller is disengaged from one piston and for reengaging automatically said clutch when the controller is reengaged with another piston.

In testimony whereof he has signed this specification.

LEON SAIVES. 

